602 ■ SANTALACE^. 



in that part of Australia soon came to an end.^ Australian sandal wood 

 appears however to be still an article of commerce, if one may draw 

 such an inference from the fact that 47,904 cwt. of sandal wood were 



imported into Singapore from Australia in the year 1872. It was mostly 

 re-shipped to China.^ 



Description — fSandal wood is not much known in English commerce, 

 and is by no means always to be found even in London. That which 

 we have examined, and -which we believe was Indian, was in cylindrical 

 logs, mostly about G inches in diameter (the largest 8 inches — smallest 

 3 inches) and 3 to 4 feet long, extremely ponderous; the bark had been 

 removed. A transverse section of sandal wood exhibits it of a pale 

 browai, marked with rather darker concentric zones and (when seen 

 under a lens) numerous open pores. The tissue is traversed by medul- 

 lary rays, also perceptible by the aid of a lens. The wood splits easily, 

 emitting when comminuted an agreeable odour which is remarkably 

 persistent; it has a strongish aromatic taste. 



The varieties of sandal wood are not classified by the few persons 

 who deal in the article in London, and we are unable to point out cha- 

 racters by which they may be distinguished. In the price-currents of 

 commercial houses in China three sorts of sandal wood are enumerated, 

 namely, South Sea Island, Timor, and Malabar; the last fetches three 

 or four times as high a price as either of the others. Even the Indian 

 sandal wood may vary in an important manner. Beddome,^ conser- 

 vator of forests in Madras, and an excellent observer, remarks that the 

 finest sandal wood is that which has grown slowly on rocky, dry and poor 

 land; and that the trees found in a rich alluvial soil, though of very fine 

 growth, produce no heart-wood and are consequently valueless. A variety 

 of the tree with more lanceolate leaves (var, /3 myrtifolium DC), native 

 of the eastern mountains of the Madras Presidency, affords a sandal wood 



which is nearly inodorous. 



breadth 



Microscopic Structure— The woody rays or wedges show at 

 varying from 35 to 420 mkrn., the primary being frequently divided by 

 secondary medullary rays. These latter rays consist of one, often of two, 

 rows of cells of the usual form. The woody tissue which they enclose 

 is chiefly made up of small ligneous fibres with pointed ends, some larger 

 parenchymatous cells, and thick-walled vessels. The resin and essential 

 oil reside chiefly in the medullary rays, as shown by the darker colour 



of these latter. 



Chemical Composition—The most important constituent is 



the 



essential oil, which the wood yields to the extent of from 2 to 5 pe 

 cent." In India, with imperfect stills, 2-5 per cent, of the oil are o»t^"l^^^ 

 the roots yield the largest amount and the finest quality of it. i*^ ^^ , 

 light yellow, thick liquid, possessing the characteristic odour of sana. , 

 that which we examined had a sp. gr. of 0-963. We did not succeea 



finding a fixed hoiling point of the .oil; it began to boil at 214 <-, 



Lond 1872, 43. 95. 382. * Information obligingly communicat 



btraits Settkmtats Blue Book fw 1872, by Messrs. Schimmel and to., ^ y 



Singapore, 1873. 298. 347.-It is possible (1878). ., ^f i„dia, 



that the sandal wood in question may have » Dr. Bidie, in Pharmacopceta oj 



been the produce of the South Sea Islands, 1 868, p. 46 1 . 

 shipped from an Australian poi-t. 



